"I feel quite emotional. We really wanted to win, we were unbelievably motivated and we had to go very very fast to beat Gregory Wathelet."

Kurten achieved one of just four clear rounds on a tough championship level course, and went into battle for the first prize of 13,000 euro and a Land Rover against three top Belgian riders.

Third to go in the jump-off, the 41-year-old put her foot to the boards and shaved half a second off the time set by Wathelet.

But she had an agonising wait while last man in, former World Champion Jos Lansink, delivered an equally fast round that however ended in failure when his grey gelding 'Casper van Spieveld', took off the top plank on the final obstacle, relegating him to third place.

It was a disappointing day for British pair Guy Williams and Ellen Whitaker.

Williams, the recently installed British number one, collected eight faults on Torinto van de Middlestede and had to settle for 26th place, while Whitaker retired during her round aboard Equimax Ocolado.